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Book banning debate introduction
Essays about book bannings
The necessity of banning books
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Did you know that 15% of parents don't let their kids read books with age inappropriate and can cause damage to other kids.(Lombardo). In this essay I agree 100% with Katherine Paterson on how the most debatable and controversial Form of censorship today is the banning of books in school libraries. Banning books is really good for the community in some shape or form because it can hurt peoples feelings and make them feel uncomfortable. I'm going to tell you why books should be banned in more details and trying to get you on my side and let everyone know what books can really do to kids. First, banning books that educate kids in school is a good thing because is can cause murder, suicide and justice. When books have murder and suicide scene
Banning books from public schools and public libraries is wrong. It’s irrational to have a parent or school board member’s opinion determine what a school district should be reading. Books including and not limited to, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Lord of the Flies, and Animal Farm all have one thing in common. They have all at one time or another been subject to banishment. These literary classics have been around for a long time and proved to be vital to the education of many, especially children and adolescents. These novels teach values and educate children about world affairs that can not come from an everyday experience. These controversial novels encompass the materials that ultimately boost our educational wealth. Banning books infringe
Trelease, Jim. "Book Banning Violates Children and Young Adult Freedoms." Book Banning. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. At Issue. Rpt. from "Censorship and Children's Books." Trelease-on-Reading.com. 2006.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
The practice of the censorship of books in schools has been prevalent due to the explicit content of them. Parents have been complaining to schools about books that count as required reading because they disapprove with the points made in the book. If a book consists of offensive or sexually explicit material, then parents would challenge the schools about them in order to prevent their children from reading them. Censorship in general has been an intensely debated issue because it is considered an infringement to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution while others argue it is used to conceal inappropriate things (Aliprandini and Sprague). The banning of books in school curriculum has also been debated since parents see certain books as inappropriate while others argue that banning them hinders student learning. Against the censorship of books in schools, Fenice Boyd and Nancy Bailey, authors of Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, believe that banning books creates a barrier between students and intellectual development (Boyd and Bailey, 655). Banning books from schools and removing them from the curriculum prevents students from exploring different ideas and developing creativity and critical thinking skills.
School boards and teachers have a responsibility for protecting the minds of their students and covering age appropriate material. However, does this responsibility cover the extreme act of banning books from school classrooms? Does not the teacher have a duty to introduce to their students world issues in order to better the students ability to cope with problems in the world? How does a school decide which books should be banned from the classroom, and should it be left up to the teacher to decide what is decided in his/her classroom. By banning books from the classroom, we prevent our students from learning about controversial topics in a safe environment, and we also encroach upon the student’s freedom of reading what they want in school.
Literature has long been an important part of human life. We express our feelings with ink and paper; we spill out our souls on dried wood pulp. Writing has been form of release and enjoyment since the beginning of written language. You can tell a story, make yourself a hero. You can live out all your fantasies. You can explore all of your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and share them with the outside world. But just because you can write, don't think you are uninhibited!
Many may argue, “Children are mature enough to choose their own books!” However a medical discovery has shown that children and teenagers are not mature enough through physical evidence. “Understanding the Teen Brain,” an article on the Online Medical Encyclopedia, states that “The rational part of a teen’s brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until he or she is 25 years old or so.” This shows that children cannot decide for themselves what is good for them to read. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the adults to decide which books should or should not be banned.
Has your school ever banned any books due to them having inappropriate content for your age group? How did it affect you or your peers? Many schools and public libraries have started banning books because of it having unsuitable content in them. I believe that certain books should be banned from libraries because some include racial slurs, others contain a blasphemous dialogue in them and usually kids shouldn’t be exposed to these types of books because of their age, lastly other books encourage children of unsuitable lifestyles that are considered dangerous or inappropriate in this world and it’s unacceptable for many parents to have their child read such topics at such a young and innocent age.
Banning Books “It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written, the books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers” (Blume 1999). Judy Blume can not explain the problem of book censorship any clearer.
Book banning in the United States and anywhere else in the world I feel should be abolished. Books are published and written for a reason. The reason is to expand the mind to new things. Sure some books are better than others but there is no reason to challenge or ban books.
This article emphasizes the point that censors go too far when they attempt to not only ban a book for their own children but want to remove it altogether from a school library, so that other students cannot read it.
The most debatable and controversial form of censorship today is the banning of books in school libraries. Banning books that educate students is wrong and selfish. Censorship of books in school libraries is neither uncommon nor an issue of the past. Books with artistic and cultural worth are still challenged constantly by those who want to control what others read. The roots of bigotry and illiteracy that fuel efforts to censor books and free expression are unacceptable and unconditional. Censoring school books in libraries can often lead to censorship of our basic freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment. In some cases, a minority ends up dictating the majority in censorship cases. To be told what is permissible reading material and what is not is a direct violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
So many people think that by banning books, then people/kids won’t be able to read bad stuff. Well, this is technically not true. There are so many different “resources” out there in this time-period, that people can use, to read/see bad stuff. For intense, the internet is one of the biggest ones out there. Also if you think about it,
The subject of censorship is a very controversial one, especially the banning of books. Many people believe they must protect themselves and others from the "evils" of many classic books and works of art because they can be deemed "indecent" in one way or another. Many believe that this is absurd and censorship in its current form is a violation of our First Amendment right to free speech. Personally, I align myself with the latter, however I do feel there are occasions where censorship is justifiable.
The ideas in literature are valuable ways for young people learning about the world around them. By banning and censoring books children and young adults lose far more than a few books, the experience gained from reading is lost.
“Protecting children from the difficult realities of the world is an exercise in futility”, which means protecting children from the horrific genuineness of the world is impractical (Leigh). Nowadays children are on the internet and banning a book so your child doesn’t get exposed to bad language or any unpleasant facts about the world is pointless because they most likely already have on the internet or even from kids at school. You could always just not allow your child to read the book you're trying to ban or if anything letting them read that book could let them “open their minds, or even offer them something to identify with” (Leigh). Sherman Alexie, the author of the book The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian, said “ Almost every day, my mailbox is filled with handwritten letters from students,-teens and preteens- who have read my YA book and loved it. I have yet to receive a letter from a child somehow debilitated by the domestic violence, drug abuse, racism, poverty, sexuality, and murder contained in my book.”